Dinner Party

We did something the other night that we had not done in a very long time. We went to a dinner party. A real live dinner party! With 10 guests and a beautifully decorated dining room table--a formal, yet casual atmosphere, with an elegance that unknowingly to me--I had been missing.

I hadn't been to one in years, at least it seems that way to me. Oh, I've been over to friends' houses for dinner, I don't mean that. I just mean that I haven't been to a grown-up, sophisticated dinner party in a very long time. You know the type--the kind of party that one sees depicted on television or in the movies. The kind where soft music plays in the background, mood lighting is on, and wonderful smells waft from the heart of the home. You know--grown-up time.

Perhaps I stayed in the kid zone far too long--I don't know. It just seems to me that during the past 3 or more decades, it's been all about my children and then all about their children. And I love that, don't get me wrong. However, somewhere along the line, I have gotten out of the habit of dinner parties. I don't think that I had given them much thought. You see, they are a lot of work. With all the cleaning and planning, the serving and entertaining, the timing and the guest list — it just seemed so much easier to say, "Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?"  

Yes, somewhere along the line, the art of entertaining (outside of my family) has lost its way. However, after that dinner party, I find myself wanting to get back on that track somehow.  I want to resume the art of entertaining friends once again.  With friends and neighbors, with candles and good food, with music and wonderful conversation--I want that. I want grown-up time. Time to discuss current events, rather than nap time, politics rather than teenagers, and yes, even religion, the one topic I'm told we should stay away from. Can you imagine me--staying away from the topic of religion? I don't think so. However, in the interest of keeping things elegant and sophisticated, we would all be polite and dignified--that is, if you were to ever come to one of my dinner parties.  Oh, I'll have one, oh yes, I will.

I've been inspired — thanks to that beautiful dinner on a cool fall evening, sitting with neighbors and friends —yes, I was inspired.  I shall begin phase one — planning. And then we will discuss phase two — who to invite. Hopefully, it will be the first of many. I want to bring it back into our lives. I want a dinner party. I sure do hope that my husband and I are on the same page. But what have I to fear--we usually are.

Now, what shall we eat?